A woman wants a Mombasa school ordered to readmit her son whom it expelled for non-payment of Sh3,000 lunch fees.
Nuru Mohammed asked the High Court to compel Bahwan Muslim Academy to allow her Standard 4 son to resume studies pending the determination of the case.
Yesterday, the High Court in Mombasa certified the case urgent and directed it be heard on February 18.
Justice Mugure Thande directed both parties to appear for an inter-parte hearing.
The pupil joined the school in 2012 in kindergarten and “has never shown any form of indiscipline,” the mother said.
His class performance has been exemplary, she added.
In July last year, the school changed rules and required that all learners should take their lunch in a canteen in the institution.
Parents were required to pay Sh3,000 per term for the lunch.
“I cannot afford the fee and that is why I often take food to my son for lunch,” Mohammed said. Her home is near the school.
The parent said the school agreed with the arrangement, but “things abruptly changed on January 28 when her son was sent home for failing to comply with regulations.
“The school said they do not need a child whose mother is sabotaging school programmes,” Mohammed said.
“It is harsh, discriminatory and an abuse of my child’s rights to send him away because the mother cannot afford extra fees,” she said.
Mohammed had already paid school fees. She said the school refunded the fees and forcefully evicted the boy.
“The eviction followed my plea with the administration to allow him to remain in school until the end of the term,” she said.
Mohammed said the boy is psychologically disturbed by the events and by the fact that he is at home when his peers are in school.
“The disagreement between the parent and the teachers should not have been transferred to the innocent pupil,” she pleaded.